No scope for leasing Chittagong Port to foreigners
Port Save Committee Chittagong and several trade union leaders held a joint press statement on Saturday, September 26. They strongly criticized recent comments made by the Shipping Minister, Mr. Sheikh Rabiul Alam, on September 24. The minister had said the Chittagong Port had become stagnant and claimed a path had opened for foreign companies to take over port operations. The union leaders called this statement false and misleading, and said it confuses the public with wrong information.
The leaders said Chittagong Port runs smoothly because of the hard work of its workers, staff, officers, and engineers. They said the port has modern equipment and skilled workers, and its container and cargo handling capacity keeps growing every year. Workers keep the port running even during bad weather and storm warnings, taking on real risk to keep operations active. The statement was sent jointly by Mr. Delwar Mazumder, convener of the Port Save Committee, and Mr. Fazlul Kabir Mintu, its member secretary.
Other signatories include Mr. A M Nazimuddin, president of the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal Chittagong divisional committee, and Mr. Kazi Sheikh Nurullah Bahar, its general secretary and a former CBA secretary at the port. Also signing were Mr. Tapan Dutta, president of the Bangladesh Trade Union Centre in Chittagong , and Mr. Iftekhar Kamal Khan, its joint secretary, along with several other dock and stevedoring union leaders.
The leaders argued that Chittagong Port earns record profits every year, and that money has helped build other major projects like the Payra Sea Port and the Matarbari deep sea port. They said the port plays a vital role in the national economy and there is no real justification for leasing out its most profitable and sensitive terminals, such as the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) and the Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT), to foreign firms.
They warned that giving foreign companies long term control over these terminals could threaten national security. They called for a public and transparent evaluation of national security, the economy, workers’ interests, and long term state interests before any such decision is made. They also said no past or present government decision on this matter should be placed above the public and national interest.
The leaders asked the current government to avoid any decision to lease out important and profitable container terminals to local or foreign companies for the long term. They also called for a transparent and neutral report on the port’s actual capacity, income, and cargo handling performance, as well as the skill of local management.
They said they support modernization and better technology for the port, but not at the cost of national interest and state control. They stressed that any development must include the port’s own workers, staff, officers, and engineers. They announced that their movement against the leasing plan will continue, with a day long sit in protest planned for October 5 in front of the main gate of the Chittagong Port building, along with further programs.
